The present invention relates to a rechargeable battery, and particularly to a storage battery used in automotive vehicles such as battery-driven electric vehicles (EVES), hybrid electric vehicles (HEMS) and the like.
An electric vehicle or a hybrid electric vehicle often uses a lithium-ion battery, a nickel-metal hydride hydrogen battery, or the like as a secondary battery, to draw energy therefrom for vehicle propulsion. In such storage batteries, two groups of sheet-like electrode materials, namely positive and negative electrode materials are layer-built or laminated together so that each electrode material is insulated from adjacent electrode materials by means of separators. Thereafter, the laminated product is rolled up to produce a rolled, laminated battery element made up of two groups of electrode materials, that is, positive electrode materials and negative electrode materials. The laminated battery element is enclosed in a battery case or an outer sheathing can (hereinafter is referred to as xe2x80x9couter sheathingxe2x80x9d) made of a metal material, and then the storage battery is assembled or constructed by installing a metal lid on the opening end of the outer sheathing through an insulating material, so that the metal lid is insulated from the outer sheathing with the insulating material interleaved between them. A pair of insulation plates are further provided at both ends of the outer sheathing enclosing therein the laminated battery element, that is, at the outer-sheathing bottom closed end and at the lid side of the outer sheathing. A positive electrode side of the laminated battery element is connected to the lid side by means of a positive-electrode lead. On the other hand, a negative electrode side of the laminated battery element is connected to the outer sheathing by means of a negative-electrode lead. When such a storage battery is put into the vehicle, undesired vibrations are transmitted to the storage battery during vehicle driving. Generally, the laminated battery element is merely enclosed in the outer sheathing, but not satisfactorily fixed to the outer sheathing or to the lid side. In such a case, there is a possibility that both side wall surfaces of the laminated battery element impinge upon the respective insulation plates, and thus wear occurs on those impinged surfaces.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a battery with a shock-proof mounted, laminated battery element enclosed in a battery case (an outer sheathing), which avoids the aforementioned disadvantages.
In order to accomplish the aforementioned and other objects of the present invention, a storage battery comprises a rolled, laminated battery element made up of two groups of electrode materials composed of positive and negative electrode materials, laminated together through separators which separate the positive and negative electrode materials, a substantially cylindrical hollow battery case enclosing therein the laminated battery element, a spindle arranged along a direction of an axis of the rolled, laminated battery element so that the spindle is fixedly connected to the laminated battery element, a first axial end of the spindle being constrained in the axial direction of the laminated battery element, and a second axial end of the spindle being elastically supported.
According to another aspect of the invention, a storage battery comprises a rolled, laminated battery element made up of two groups of sheet-shaped electrode materials composed of positive and negative electrode materials, laminated together through separators which separate the positive and negative electrode materials to prevent the positive and negative electrode materials from touching, a substantially cylindrical hollow battery case enclosing therein the laminated battery element, a cylindrical hollow spindle made of an electrical insulating material and arranged along a direction of an axis of the rolled, laminated battery element so that the spindle is fixedly connected to the laminated battery element and coaxially arranged with the laminated battery element with respect to the axis of the laminated battery element, a first axial end of the spindle being constrained in the axial direction of the laminated battery element, and a second axial end of the spindle being elastically supported.
According to a still further aspect of the invention, a storage battery comprises a rolled, laminated battery element made up of two groups of sheet-shaped electrode materials composed of positive and negative electrode materials, laminated together through separators which separate the positive and negative electrode materials to prevent the positive and negative electrode materials from touching, each of the positive electrode materials comprising a sheet of aluminum material with a layer of positive-electrode active material on both sides and each of the negative electrode materials comprising a sheet of copper material with a layer of negative-electrode active material on both sides, a substantially cylindrical hollow battery case enclosing therein the laminated battery element, a cylindrical hollow spindle made of a plastic material and arranged along a direction of an axis of the rolled, laminated battery element so that the spindle is fixedly connected to the laminated battery element and coaxially arranged with the laminated battery element with respect to the axis of the laminated battery element, a first axial end of the spindle being constrained in a radial direction as well as the axial direction of the laminated battery element, and a second axial end of the spindle being elastically supported.
The other objects and features of this invention will become understood from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.